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East Oregonian
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Gillette: Community shows its appreciation for his years of officiating
Continued from Page A1
Gillette’s brain.
Gillette, 68, began ref-
ereeing baseball at age 18
after being talked into it
by his brother, Pat. He said
he instantly loved it and
started officiating basket-
ball and football, too. As a
man in stripes, he happily
whistled fouls on the hard-
wood and illegal blocks on
the gridiron. He called balls
and strikes from behind the
plate.
Gillette knew most of the
rules since he played base-
ball and football at Mac-Hi
and football at Whit-
man College. In 1972, he
attended school to become
a professional umpire. Over
the years, he worked five
state championship football
games, two state baseball
finals and at least eight state
basketball championships.
These days, Gillette
serves as commissioner of
the Blue Mountain Basket-
ball Officials Association.
He’s the guy who schedules
the other officials and evalu-
ates their performance. The
latter duty is what brought
him to Saturday night’s
game.
After being honored,
Gillette talked about his
decades as an official.
“It’s something that
becomes ingrained,” he
said. “You either like it or
you don’t.”
Contributed photo
Umpire George Gillette calls a Stanfield runner out at home
plate during a state quarterfinal baseball game.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
George Gillette claps for his wife, Dominie Heiser, after Gillette was honored Saturday at the
Blue Mountain Conference Championships for his almost 50 years as a sports official. The
crowd at the Pendleton Convention Center cheered for Heiser’s willingness for her husband
to travel from home so often to officiate around the state.
Athletes often approach
him years later after recog-
nizing him as an official.
“When someone comes
up to me and says, ‘Hey,
aren’t you a referee,’ I kind
of cringe,” he said, “because
I hope its going to be posi-
tive.” It usually is.
He said still loves the job,
though being an official is
harder now in some ways,
such as more negativity and
involvement from specta-
tors. He doesn’t internalize
it. Brian Freels, who offici-
ates football and basketball
with Gillette, said coaches’
tantrums and fans’ com-
ments roll right off Gillette.
“He doesn’t lose his tem-
per,” Freels said. “He keeps
his composure.”
Gillette said he gets the
usual taunts about bad eye-
sight when fans disagree
with a call, but he usually
keeps cool and suppresses
sizzling one-liners that
come to mind. Occasion-
ally, he must have a specta-
tor removed from the venue.
Freels, who remembers
Gillette officiating some of
his own high school basket-
ball games in Enterprise,
said the award needed to
happen.
“George is working on
his 50th year of officiat-
ing,” he said. “We wanted
to recognize this guy for his
endless hours and endless
miles.”
Grant, who originated
the idea, said it came to him
while speaking last March
at a memorial service for
longtime official Bill Zyph.
“I thought, why do we
wait around and talk about
people after they’re not
around anymore,” he said.
“We need to take the time
now to thank them for what
they did.”
Grant added a shout out
to all officials.
“Officials are a group
that has been under-appreci-
ated,” he said. “Their ranks
are dwindling.”
Gillette said he plans to
stop officiating when his
performance starts to flag.
“None of us want to con-
tinue to officiate when we’re
an embarrassment to the
game and the kids we offi-
ciate for,” he said. “You
just hope you can figure out
when that time comes.”
Apparently, the time
hasn’t come yet, judging by
his fans.
“The words servant
leadership come to mind,”
said Heppner High School
Principal Matt Combe.
“He often officiates fresh-
men and other lower level
games.”
“He’s
super-meticu-
lous and always at the top
of what he’s doing,” said
Weston-Athena
Athletic
Director Shawn White.
“He’s
a
consummate
professional.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.
Lockwood: Provocative press releases
Continued from Page A1
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, speaks about former Port of Morrow Director Gary Neal on
Monday at a town hall in Boardman before giving him an honorary plaque.
Walden: Meets with constituents
Continued from Page A1
called the Trump adminis-
tration’s policy of separating
children from their parents
at the border “a real mis-
take,” but said he too sup-
ports securing the southern
border.
“We see people coming
for a better life, but we also
see people coming across
for human trafficking, drug
trafficking,” he said.
But he said border control
had always been a bipartisan
issue, and cited the Secure
Fence Act of 2006, which
authorized about 700 miles
of fence along the south-
ern border. He said several
Democrats, including Ore-
gon Sen. Ron Wyden and
then-Congresswoman Dar-
lene Hooley, voted for that
bill. Walden also said the
country needs an immigra-
tion system that provides for
workforce needs and a path
to citizenship.
Changing climate
Walden also talked about
his goals for forest manage-
ment and reducing forest
fires in Oregon.
An audience member
in Boardman, Steve Mur-
ray, noted in response to the
recently proposed Green
New Deal, Walden had said
Republicans have better
ideas on climate change.
“But on the Energy and
Commerce Committee, you
didn’t hold any hearings on
climate change,” said Mur-
ray, who had traveled from
The Dalles to hear Walden.
“The biggest reason we’re
having forest fires isn’t for-
est management — it’s cli-
mate change. Something
needs to happen.”
Walden said he agreed
something needed to hap-
pen, but said he focused
more on expanding the
energy grid to use more
renewable energy.
“Climate change is real,”
he said, and the question is
what to do about it. He said
he comes down on the side
of innovation to provide the
answers. He pointed to the
recently announced Wheat-
ridge project, which will be
built in Morrow County to
combine large-scale wind,
solar and battery storage
power.
“This is the kind of inno-
vation I’m for,” he said.
“If we don’t have the right
capacity, we can’t put renew-
able energy into it.”
And the U.S. has a
responsibility to tackle cli-
mate change.
“It should be us,” he said.
“We helped create this mess,
we should help clean it up.”
He also said while he
thinks climate change is
a factor in forest fires,
he focused on forest
management.
“Shouldn’t we try to
reduce the fuel load to cut
those catastrophic fires?” he
said.
Bob Haechrel, also
from The Dalles, said he
had called Walden’s office,
wanting to understand
if there were parts of the
Green New Deal on which
he felt he could work with
Democrats.
“To your point on the
Green New Deal, it’s a res-
olution, not actually imple-
mented legislation,” Walden
said. “Clearly, there are
things we can work together
on.”
But he said he was
against some components of
the proposed resolution.
“If the goal is to put
down the cattle industry in
10 years, I’m not for that,”
he said. “If the goal is to put
us all on high-speed rail, I
don’t think that will work
very well. I don’t want the
federal government taking
over that much,” he said.
Debt and pot
The national debt reach-
ing $22 trillion is a con-
cern, Walden said, but the
real problem are programs,
such as Medicare and pay-
ing the interest on the debt
as opposed to defense
spending. As Americans, he
said, “we’re going to have to
have a pretty serious con-
versation” about the federal
government not funding as
many programs.
And Walden is changing
his tune on marijuana. One
propane dealer in southern
Oregon said the government
needs to change something,
Walden said, because his
clients pay in stacks of cash.
Walden said he is not “quite
there” in legalizing canna-
bis, but maybe the federal
government could manage it
like alcohol.
But items, such as mari-
juana gummy bears, smack
of the tobacco industry’s
Joe Camel methods to lure
younger users, he said, and
if the feds did treat mari-
juana like booze, states are
not going to receive fed-
eral help with treatment
programs.
Walden will return to
Umatilla County for a town
hall at the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center,
Hermiston, on March 15 at
4 p.m.
It was his handiwork
behind the press release put
out last week in the name
of state Sen. Dennis Linthi-
cum, R-Klamath Falls. Lin-
thicum made what others in
the Legislature considered
racially insensitive remarks
about a black man who died
at the hands of police.
The senator hasn’t
backed down, and neither
has his hired wordsmith.
“I have been extremely
effective when there is room
to do so,” Lockwood said.
His style clashes with a
national yearning for more
racial sensitivity, biparti-
sanship and civil discourse.
Dempsey said Lock-
wood likes to launch “gre-
nades in the public sphere”
because “he knows he can
get a lot of attention.”
Molly Woon, Dem-
ocratic Party of Ore-
gon spokeswoman, said
Lockwood is deliberately
provocative.
“That is not the role of
a communications person
that gets a state paycheck,”
Woon said.
Lockwood plies his
skills
for
Linthicum,
state Sen. Kim Thatcher,
R-Keizer, and state Rep.
Bill Post, R-Keizer. Their
legislative offices share the
cost of Lockwood’s state
salary of $4,700 a month.
“We hired Jonathan
because he is effective at
generating important con-
versations,” Thatcher said
in a statement. “The smears
against him, along with the
apparent petty jealousies
of his abilities, are clear
examples of some of what’s
wrong with the culture in
Salem.”
Post declined an inter-
view but backed Lock-
wood’s performance in a
written statement.
“I hired Jonathan Lock-
wood because I loved the
work he did in Colorado,
the work he did in the Sen-
ate Republican office, and
the work he did in Flor-
ida this past summer,” Post
said. “Jonathan is smart,
well qualified, and has
the ability to navigate the
media realm.”
Linthicum
didn’t
respond to requests for
interviews.
Lockwood’s prime duty
is to craft messaging for the
legislators, but he also does
research and talks with the
media. Lockwood said he
does strategize with other
Republican legislators, but
his emphasis is on the three
who pay him.
A native of Denver,
Lockwood started college
Contributed photo
Jonathan Lockwood, who
writes press releases for
Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keiz-
er, and state Rep. Bill Post,
R-Keizer,
has
become
known for provocative ver-
bal attacks on liberal politi-
cians and policies.
to study fashion design but
found he couldn’t sew. He
then tried the music indus-
try, but a hiring freeze
where he was an intern
made him change course.
A friend’s mom, who
was a state representative
in Colorado, suggested he
look at politics, and he got
an internship in Colorado’s
House Republican office.
He was soon embroiled
in controversy over a televi-
sion commercial attacking
a U.S. senator for support-
ing a nuclear deal with Iran.
The ad showed children
counting down, a nuclear
blast, and then a scorched
planet.
Lockwood said that
commercial, which gen-
erated an outcry, was one
of his crowning achieve-
ments, because it prompted
debate.
“There were efforts to
shut me up then, just like
there are now,” Lockwood
said.
In 2016, he took a job
with the Senate Republican
caucus in Oregon, handling
communications, and the
following year signed on to
the gubernatorial campaign
of Knute Buehler. After
four months, he was out.
Lockwood said the cam-
paign’s shift to the left and
conflicting political mes-
sages handcuffed him as a
spokesperson.
“They beat me to the
breakup,” Lockwood said.
Buehler’s campaign offi-
cials declined comment.
Lockwood then worked
for another Republican can-
didate before leaving the
state for political jobs first
in Texas and then in Florida.
Lockwood, 30, returned to
Oregon in December after
being offered a position
with the lawmakers.
His messaging for the
public officials who employ
him is often more personal
and inflammatory than the
standard party rhetoric
from caucus offices. People
are quick to share what they
think about him, but often
off the record for fear of
drawing his ire. His detrac-
tors say his loaded press
releases are self-serving
and that he puts raising his
own profile over that of his
employers.
“I think I am just speak-
ing the truth and that some
people want to turn me into
a pariah so that they can
assassinate someone and
smear them as something
they’re not,” Lockwood
said. “The politics of per-
sonal assassination is dom-
inating political discourse,
and it is hurting people.”
Yet Lockwood won’t
explain the evolution of
the Linthicum statement.
In a release entitled “I
can’t breathe,” Lockwood
blamed the death of New
York’s Eric Garner on high
tobacco taxes, following a
state proposal to increase
tobacco taxes. In fact,
the man died after being
choked by police during an
arrest.
Republican and Dem-
ocratic leaders in both
the House and the Sen-
ate attacked the statement.
They aimed their anger
not at Lockwood but at
Linthicum.
Lockwood also uses
his personal social media
accounts to go after polit-
ical opponents. On Twit-
ter, he has 6,500 followers
— twice as many as House
Speaker Tina Kotek.
Woon spent seven years
doing communications for
Senate Democrats. She’s
familiar with the role and
said Lockwood operates
outside of the norms.
“He conducts himself
in his professional life in a
way that I absolutely cannot
relate to,” she said.
Lockwood’s week was
mired with conflict over
press release on a proposed
tobacco tax. The release
spurred pushback against
Lockwood’s boss, Republi-
can infighting and multiple
news stories.
Asked
whether
he
regrets the release, Lock-
wood paused for a few sec-
onds, flashed a smile and
shrugged his shoulders.
“As long as we keep get-
ting told to shut up, and as
long as bad policies keep
coming forward, so too will
the press releases,” Lock-
wood said.
———
Aubrey Wieber and
Paris Achen are report-
ers for the Oregon Capital
Bureau, a collaboration of
EO Media Group, Pamplin
Media Group and Salem
Reporter.